I recently decided to take the plunge and buy an e-bike. There were various reasons for this, but one of the big ones was to help with my mobility after my recent operation. I enjoy cycling but have been finding it hard recently because of this operation, and although I am recovering and could just wait, I figured I’d go for the e-bike because it was something I fancied anyway. So it was a bit of an excuse.
There are a number of compelling e-bikes out there, but I decided it narrow it down to a bike that looked like it was designed as an e-bike: so many look to be normal bikes with a battery stuck on the frame and a motor added. This is a relatively new field – sexy looking new bike designs – and this itself should cause alarm bells to ring, since new designs can often cause lots of problems (tried and tested is usually best). But this is about me taking the plunge anyway.
<A few months pass>
I initially started to write this post in September, a few weeks after receiving the bike, but it stopped working one day on my commute to work, and that put me off my stride. I had to send the bike back to the manufacturer (involving dismantling it, putting it back in its box, and organising a courier – all a real faff) and then wait for the bike to be returned to me. Maybe I shall write about my experience with their support offering later (in brief – bloody awful until I managed to find a really really good contact who looked after me and made me feel a lot better about the whole thing).
What are my thoughts about the bike, now I have had a total of almost 300 rides and travelled over 1,000 Km? I shall ignore the month or so where the bike was unusable or away being fixed.
In short, very positive. People ask me about the bike about once a month, and complement its looks. To save time writing (I want to post this, but I am pretty busy at the moment), I offer the following:
Pros:
- It looks great
- It is very quiet
- The boost button is wonderful! If I need to pull away from junctions, speed up, climb moderate hills, it is a boon
- The choice of 3 horn sounds is actually pretty cool
- It is integrated with Apple FindMy
- I love the integrated lights
- I love the integrated lock, and the way it connects to my phone so that I can just press the horn button to unlock it
- The build quality really is very good
- The automatic gears work better than I expected
Cons:
- I find the saddle position a little uncomfortable (it is adjustable, but not adjustable enough for my frame)
- Having the integrated battery means it cannot be stolen, of course, but it also means I have to charge the bike and not the battery. This isn’t much of a problem for me, as I have a garage where the bike lives, but it does mean that I cannot bring the battery to work and charge it in my office
I shall revisit these lists if I think of anything to add. The main question here is whether I would buy it again, knowing what I know.
Yes.